How To Make Chicken Stock With a Pressure Canner

Note from Jami: When Kimmy contacted me about writing this guest post, I thought it would be good to have another option for you to be able to make your own chicken stock (turkey and beef, too – it’s all in the bones!) – in addition to the traditional way to make stock on the stovetop and the Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Stock I’ve written about previously. Whatever way you find that works best for you, I’m happy to do what I can to encourage you to make your own stock – for all the reasons Kimmy has listed!

In our home we try to eat as simply as possible. I buy the very best food that we can afford and is in season. This means that often one meal will be the prep for the next. For example one simple roast chicken dinner will also be the shredded chicken for the next and the leftover bones will wind up as stock.

Yes, I believe you should make your own chicken stock. It is infinitely better than anything you can buy at the store and, if done right, can be practically free. Most of what you buy in the store is broth anyways- not stock. Stock means the gelatin in the bones has rendered giving you a rich, hearty, sometimes a bit solid concoction. Once you have made your own you won’t go back. I promise.

It can be a bit of work, however I have discovered a shortcut. A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned she made stock in her pressure canner. You know those huge 23 quart pressure canners used to can low acid foods like green beans? Yeah. In there. The best part? Well there are two things actually:

It is cooked start to finish in under an hour

It makes a large amount of stock

First can we talk ingredients?

For my first batch of stock I simply went to the grocery store and bought about four pounds of chicken thighs. It worked great but it seemed such a waste to purchase chicken and then not be able to use the meat (the pressure cooker does the meat no favors, the one downside to doing it this way).

Now I simply save chicken as well as vegetable scraps in the freezer. Some batches have more celery, some have more carrots. It isn’t exact. Use what you have. Little by little it adds up and over the course of a couple of months I finally have enough bones and vegetable scraps to make stock. Completely free!

Two last notes about the chicken:

I recommend the more bones the better. If you are interested in a really thick, well-gelled stock then you need bones and lots of them. If it doesn’t gross you out you can even ask you butcher for a few chicken feet to throw in. Often they will give them to you for free or really cheap and they are the BEST for making stock.

Please consider buying locally grown pasture raised chicken. Since I have switched to pasture raised chicken I will never go back. The taste is incredible not to mention I love knowing the farmer and farm the chicken came from. Yes it costs more, but if you are mindful and stretch one chicken to two or three dinners and then use the bones for stock I think you will find it isn’t very expensive it all. Besides, want to know where the idea came to use chicken feet in my stock? Yep, my farmer gave them to me for free the last time I purchased chicken from him.

Ready to make stock? Here is how to make chicken stock with your canner (of course a regular pressure cooker works, too – it just makes a smaller amount):

Homemade Chicken Stock with a Pressure Canner

(makes 10+ quarts)

Ingredients

4+ lbs chicken bones/pieces/feet

4-5 medium carrots cut in half

4-5 celery stalks cut in halt

2 onions, peeled and quartered

4+ garlic cloves (to taste) peeled

2 tbs salt

20 black peppercorns

water

InstructionsNote: These are the instructions based on my pressure canner. The pounds of pressure and times are based on the instruction for my Presto 23-Quart Pressure Canner and Cooker. Please check and follow the directions for your canner.

Except for the color of Kimmy’s countertops these photos look like they could’ve been downloaded from my phone. I make stock just like this, chicken feet & all, and for the exact same reasons, on a regular basis. Many of my friends tease me about being so “back to nature”, but everyone sure seems to enjoy dinner invitations to my house. And, I even have a few friends who already plan to give me their turkey carcasses once Thanksgiving dinner is over! Living frugally and healthfully without compromising flavor & enjoyment is very do-able. It just takes a bit of planning and a little more effort than opening a box or pulling up to the drive-thru window.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You have just solved a big dilemma for me (:
I’ve been cooking up ways (heh) to get more gelatin into our diet. (Don’t know if there’s a diff, but beef gelatin is good for hair and nails and my daughters have very fine, thin hair that grows soooo slowly.) Not to mention it is packed with protein.

I’ve often thought about making stock in my pressure canner, but I thought it was aluminum and I don’t like to cook in that. I have the same 23 qt. Presto that you do.

I wonder why – since your canner is already out – you don’t can the stock instead of freezing it? I’ve found it much easier to use, and remember to use, when it is sitting on a shelf instead of hiding in the freezer and needing to be thawed before using.

Don’t chuck that schmaltz (chicken fat)! Either lift off from the gelled chilled stock and save or leave a layer on the stock to keep it fresh in the fridge or freezer. If you must take it off, left the schmaltz off & remelt it – pour into forms and chill. Schmaltz is great for frying potatoes, seasoning starches, adding some flavor to any number of dishes – soups, stews, marinades… Additionally that chicken fat may have anti-inflammatory properties – remember Jewish Penicillin? Treasure the Scmaltz!

Should you vent the canner for 10 minutes before you put the weight on, then cook 10 minutes? I’m new to canning and realize the venting time is to help remove air from the canner before you hold correct pressure with the weight are you saying this doesn’t have to be done when cooking vs canning?

I have the same pressure canner as you do. I worry about cooking in it because of the aluminum. Do you find that the food tastes ‘metallic’ when cooking in it? I recently bought a stainless 20 quart pot, but it doesn’t pressure up so it would take FOREVER. I love your method and I want to try it, but wondered about the aluminum leaching into the food. I fear that it would end up being more poisonous than good? Thoughts on this?